


Anchoring

by tigerbright



Category: Batman Beyond
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, Canon Character of Color, Canon Related, Case Fic, F/F, F/M, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 14:02:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2814566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigerbright/pseuds/tigerbright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One thing that all of the stable metahumans have in common is their support system.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anchoring

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lyrstzha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrstzha/gifts).



> Many, **MANY** thanks to beatrice_otter, who took time out of her holiday schedule to beta this after I procrastinated on getting a beta. Without her, this would be barely a sketch.
> 
> Spoilers for pretty much everything. Refers specifically to Season 2 episode "Earth Mover." Dana is a graduate student, so this is about nine years after the first episode; after the end of the series, after Dana knows that Terry is Batman, but before the JLU episode "Epilogue." Contains references to the related animated series Static Shock.

Dana sighed as Terry tapped his earpiece. "Again?"

Terry shrugged sheepishly. "At least I finally told you, so you know I'm not blowing you off."

"True — you have much less creative excuses now that I know your night job." She blew him a kiss as he started out of the restaurant. "Tell Mr. Wayne not to get you killed!"

Over his shoulder, Terry called, "He'll tell me it's my fault!"

Over the phone, he said, “Okay, Bruce. Why'd you yank me away from my girlfriend this time?"

"Poker game at Barbara Gordon's house."

Terry scoffed.

"Of course I'm joking. I'd invite Dana and Max to that." Terry could hear Bruce tapping keys.

"Speaking of Max — Barbara has been very impressed with her computer skills. Not wanting to keep Max back, she's sending her to Reston rather than keeping her here in Gotham."

"CIA? Why not the NSA?"

"Barbara would actually like to talk to Max every now and again. She expects that you and Dana probably would too."

Terry laughed. "Thanks, I think. So... what are you not telling me?"

"Just get over here. It's easier if I show you."

“Bruce. I’m off-duty. If someone isn’t going to die, or if a criminal isn’t going to escape, I’m not coming in until morning. We don’t have a current case.”

“But—“

“I’m sure that there’s a cool new case that I will love. In the morning.” He clicked off and went back into the restaurant.

Dana, looking surprised, waved off the waitress. “Not putting on the uniform after all?”

“Yellow alert. It can wait until I go back on duty, especially since he wouldn’t even tell me what it was.”

“Well, in that case, let’s order the tostones. With carne asada. And the chicken power soup sounds good. I didn’t come to the best Cuban restaurant on the West Side in order to eat by myself.” She looked around for the waitress, who was looking a little offended. “I’m so sorry, my boyfriend doesn’t have to answer that page after all, so we’re staying. We’ll be ready to order in two minutes.”

===

Terry stood behind Bruce's chair, cowl pulled back, blinking at the screens. "Okay, so what do all of these people have to do with each other?"

"Well, to start with, all of them have at one time or another used or produced toxic waste."

"Not exactly narrowing it down." He scanned the faces, feeling, as he often did, like Watson to Bruce's Holmes.

"No-one from Wayne-Powers there, huh?"

"That's right. These people are all relatively small-time. But you've met some of them before."

"I see Bill Wallace," Terry said slowly. "And the other ones I recognize — they've all had friends and relatives who were soaked in mutagens and turned into metahumans."

"Yeah. You know Virgil Hawkins?"

"Sure. Static Shock."

"Do you remember how he got his powers?"

"Big biohazard explosion in Dakota, where he grew up. He was hardly the only one affected, too."

"Well, here in Gotham, we have a lot of little biohazards instead. But out in Dakota, there are new mutations."

"You think that there will be new mutations here as well."

"Tony Maychek and Bill Wallace weren't the only people in their company dumping those chemicals down the mine. Barbara just called me. The son of one of the other guys on that crew, Nigel Sura, has turned up dead. He was responsible for supervising the process that produced the waste."

"Bill wouldn't kill anyone."

"No. This man died because his body had an unsustainable mutation."

"But some mutations will be sustainable."

"And if we've learned anything, it's that mutations rarely come with peaceful intentions." Bruce pulled up a map.

"This shows the work and home locations for all the people who've worked on that dumping ground since Tony Maychek's fateful day. Go check them out. Start with Madelyn Jannings; she's the daughter of the other guy on that crew."

===

Every now and again, Terry thought, it would be nice to be able to go knock on people's doors and ask them what was going on. He continued watching Madelyn Jannings from his perch beside a friendly gargoyle.

"See anything yet?" Bruce's voice rasped in his ear.

"Yeah, I've seen that she's on every social network out there and likes to make animated gifs when she's supposed to be doing her job."

"And yet her job gets done, on time and to spec."

Terry groaned. "Speedster?"

"Seems unlikely — a computer wouldn't be able to keep up with superspeed if she were typing her work. But—"

"—but maybe she IS the computer," Terry finished. He sighed. "Any idea how I'm going to figure her out?"

"Much as I hate to admit it, we're going to need Max's help on this one."

==

"Madelyn Jannings?" Max mused. "Where do I know that name?"

"Bruce tracked down her usernames." Terry passed her his tablet. Max scrolled swiftly.

"Oh! She's on H@c.kr!" Max's brow creased. "Oh," she said softly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, um... I remember how I know her name."

"Are you... blushing?" He couldn't always tell, but her shoulders gave clues even if her skin didn't.

"Not like that." Max shook her head fiercely. "There was a competition."

"And you were in the top."

"Yeah. MadJ and I were in the last bracket, and then I washed out. We were doing live coding, and she was just too fast. People accused her of cheating, of somehow getting the questions ahead of time and writing her answers ahead of time, but that wasn't possible. The contest was made up on the fly." She grinned. "The next year, though, MadJ was the one asking the questions, and I got the gold. No-one else could keep up."

"You have this whole other life Dana and I know nothing about, huh?"

"Sure do. I love you and Dana like siblings, but you guys don't care about the back-end of the programs and apps you use. You just like them to work. So I go have some of my fun with other friends."

"Hmm. Are you still in touch with Madge?"

"MadJ," Max corrected.

"I can't hear the difference."

"You have to say it with a capital J."

===

Max had inboxed MadJ through H@c.kr and discovered that the two of them actually shared a social network with Terry and Dana as well. This gave both her and Bruce a better way to track MadJ across the Internet.

"You know," Max informed Terry, "I haven't the faintest idea why we're tracking this girl. She's not doing anything illegal or even unethical. She's clean. As far as I can tell, her only ability is her fantastically fast brain."

"We need to find out how she got this way, and if anyone else is likely to end up with a mutation less healthy than hers. Heck, we need to make sure that she's actually healthy."

"And going all Big Brother on her butt is going to help how?"

“Bruce doesn’t really trust metas. Heck, he doesn’t even trust the metas he works with. Or the aliens. Or the Green Lanterns. Or—” He blinked.

Max nodded. “Bruce doesn’t trust anyone except you and the guard dogs he keeps rescuing. Not that there’s a common thread, or anything.”

Terry sighed. "Bruce does have this tendency to need to verify. And he is very possessive about his city.”

Max groaned. “You’re just enabling him, you know.”

“You know that his paranoia pays off more often than not.”

“And fifty-one percent is still a majority. All right. But you have to promise me that you’ll get Bruce’s nose out of this as soon as possible. I like this girl.”

“Oh?"

Max shrugged. "Getting back in touch with MadJ made us each curious to see how the other is getting along. We have a date for coffee this afternoon. And I wanted to make sure that you and Bruce know that it's not business."

Terry groaned. "Got it, got it." He eyed her. "You don't mind if Dana and I tag along, do you? I'm sure she'll be okay with the nosy clueless friends wanting to know about the girl Max met on the Internet."

"As long as it's a real double date and not Bat-business, I'm cool with a little backup."

===

Terry knew that he had a good brain, even when constantly outpaced by Bruce and Max. With MadJ along, however, he was soon completely at sea. Dana started laughing at him.

"I'm understanding about one word in five!" he protested. "And they don't usually get strung together like that! It's like listening to you talk about string theory!"

"There's actually a lot in common between virtual reality and string theory," Dana said thoughtfully.

MadJ turned to Dana excitedly. "Tell me about string theory? I've always wanted to learn, but couldn't manage to start."

Dana laughed. "I'm TA'ing the 101 course with Professor Srikanth at Gotham State this year. You can come audit it if you'd like."

MadJ shook her head. "Can't make that kind of time commitment. But if you're teaching it, surely you can give me an elevator pitch? Please?"

"Well, I first heard about it on popular science TV back when I was ten and those episodes are still available; we even show them in class. Let me pull them up."

MadJ peered at Dana's tablet. "Nova: Elegant Universe, great, I'll watch those when I get home!"

Max smiled. "Can I make the popcorn? I still haven't managed to watch those."

MadJ bounced. "Yeah!"

===

Dana and Terry didn’t see much of Max or MadJ over the next couple of weeks. They talked or texted with Max every day, but wanted to give them their space.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Max so happy,” Terry remarked to Bruce.

“Hmph. Just keep checking in on them. Wouldn’t hurt to do it in the Batsuit, either.”

MadJ did come and audit String Theory 101, but soon got bored with the lower-level courses, reading through the texts and labs at a rapid rate and going on to the next class. About a month later, Dana was unsurprised to see MadJ auditing a 300-level course.

“So when you said time commitment—?”

MadJ looked abashed. “I meant that new shiny things tend to eat my brain.”

“Just remember that one of those new shiny things is my best friend, okay?”

“No worries,” MadJ assured her.

“No worries,” Max assured Dana over an anxious phone call. “We’re moving in together as soon as her lease is up. That’s in about three months.” She grinned. “Someone tell Bruce that he changed my life for the better. I hope he’s not disappointed.”

===

A few weeks later, Terry got a call from Max. “Hi!” she said brightly. “Got a minute? I need you to come over to my apartment. Like, right now.”

“Um. As me, or as Batman?”

“The utility belt wouldn’t go amiss, but don’t blow your cover on my account. No danger.

Terry called Dana, and they both went to see what was going on.

===

“Now this,” Dana said, “is an extreme makeover.”

Terry had to agree. Somehow, MadJ had managed to change reality in Max’s apartment. The little dragons on her coffee table gamboled like cats. A waterfall cascaded down the wall and disappeared, leaving no trace on the wall nor the floor. A new door led directly to MadJ’s own apartment, fifteen miles away. And when he walked around the coffee table to examine the little dragons, he found that his feet didn’t touch the floor.

“MadJ,” Max called.

MadJ peeked around the doorway.

“Did you do all of this with string theory?” Dana asked.

MadJ nodded and dove into a long explanation. Dana seemed to understand it, though she did ask MadJ to slow down periodically.

“So what you’re telling me,” Terry said, “is that you can change physics because you understand string theory?”

Dana and Max nodded as MadJ said enthusiastically, “Isn’t it cool!”

“Dana,” Terry said carefully, “is this localized, or is it going to affect the whole city?” Or planet? he wondered.

Dana considered and went back to talking with MadJ.

“But—“ MadJ protested a few minutes later. And later, “How do you know?” And then, shamefacedly, “I guess that makes sense.”

Terry sighed. “I know someone who can help.” He left.

A few days later, Batman, Dana and Max finished helping MadJ change reality back to the currently accepted norm.

"I kinda blew it, huh?" MadJ sounded depressed. "I always screw things up. I just get so..."

"So excited over that new shiny thing?" Max kissed her forehead. "I know more than a few people like that."

""I guess we should have known that someone capable of programming computers at the speed of light might also be able to program reality given the source code," Terry added helpfully, coming through the front door of the still-conjoined apartment. Everyone glared at him. MadJ seemed not to notice that Batman had disappeared.

MadJ sat down heavily on the sofa. One of the dragons, safely stabilized, crawled into her lap to demand petting. "I blew your chances of going to the CIA!”

"Hardly. I got to prove the level of things I can figure out. I mean, recognizing a code I couldn't crack and still tracking it to the source? And having resources like Batman to call on? They're going to want me spying all over the place. But I don't want to do that any more."

MadJ looked uncomprehending. 

Max sighed. “I need to tell you why I got back in touch. “

Terry knew instantly what she was going to say, and he couldn't be there any more. He and Dana hugged them both, and left.

===

After Dana went back to the university, Terry put the Batsuit back on and called Bruce while looking down at MadJ's apartment from the same convenient gargoyle. Surprisingly, MadJ hadn't thrown Max out when Max explained that they'd met through surveillance. She didn't seem to even be angry. She was just her usual cheerfully-curious self.

"Guess this one is a stable mutation," Terry remarked.

Bruce scoffed. "We got lucky."

Terry shrugged, knowing Bruce would see the reaction on his screen. "One thing that all of the stable metahumans have in common is their support system. Growing up, Virgil had his dad and sister and Richie, and Richie has all of them. Heck, all the good guys in Dakota supported each other, and still do. Barry Allen had the Wests, and then Wally had Barry to support him in addition to all of that. Mutagens don't make people evil, Bruce. They make them more... themselves. You know that."

"This started when we were talking about Tony Maychek, remember? Tony caused a lot of harm even if wasn't an ‘evil’ person. I don’t need that kind of harm in my city,” Bruce said harshly.

"And that's the other side — even good people can become evil if they've had everything they love taken from them through no fault of his own. He had his life destroyed and his daughter taken from him. Bill didn't mean to hurt Tony and he was a terrific dad to Jackie. But you couldn't expect Tony to see it that way after years buried in the ground."

Terry sighed. "MadJ isn't evil. She has terrific parents — you know she does, we looked up her dads more than once — and an awesome big sister, and now she has a wonderful girlfriend and is approved of by her girlfriend's friends, with the added bonus that she doesn't have to hide who she is from anyone." He cleared his throat.

"Bruce. We cannot take Max from MadJ. We will lose them both. And if someone's going to be randomly changing reality, I, for one, would rather have a cheerful, stable, and sane person — a person whose girlfriend has a strong sense of right and wrong, no less — doing it than a rejected depressed person who is totally without boundaries."

Bruce was silent, then abruptly cleared his throat. "We'll leave MadJ be. Take care of Max, Terry."

“As if you could stop me.” 

Bruce grunted.

"Thank you. I'll let Max know." Terry looked down at MadJ's window. Max pointedly pulled down the blinds. "Later."

**Author's Note:**

> The NOVA episode I refer to can be found here:  
> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/elegant-universe.html
> 
> I decided that this had to be set before "Epilogue"; therefore I had to delete a line about MadJ being a joyful force reminding Bruce of Ace's sadness and death, since this is all Terry POV. Terry doesn't know that story till Amanda Waller tells it to him. But that story informs this one.


End file.
